2 A. A. Shklyarevsky was a well-known Russian author who wrote a number of novels and tales on criminal and detective subjects in the years 1860–80.—A. Ch. [↩︎]
3 I beg the reader to excuse such expressions. Kamyshev's story is rich in them, and if I do not omit them it is only because I thought it necessary in the interest of the characterization of the author to print his story in toto.—A. Ch. [↩︎]
4 Little dove; a much used term of endearment. [↩︎]
5 Master, sir. [↩︎]
6 Little uncle, a familiar form of affectionate address. [↩︎]
7 Salted and smoked sturgeon. [↩︎]
8 At this point of Kamyshev's manuscript a hundred lines have been effaced.—A. Ch. [↩︎]
9 At this place of the manuscript, a pretty girl's face, with an expression of horror on it, is drawn in pen and ink. All that is written below it has been carefully blotted out. The upper half of the next page is also scratched out and only one word: “temple,” can be deciphered through the dense ink blots.—A. Ch. [↩︎]
10 Here again there are erasures.—A. Ch. [↩︎]
11 Here, unfortunately, there are again erasures. It is evident Kamyshev blotted out not at the time of writing but afterwards. At the end of the novel I will draw special attention to these erasures.—A. Ch. [↩︎]